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The "No New Games in 2015" Self-Challenge

So I've been thinking for a while about how big my backlog is getting. While I finished a lot of games between 2012 and 2014, I was still not really succeeding in finishing every game I purchased or received. With that in mind (and a thus far light release schedule for 2015 prior to about September), it seemed like the perfect time to codify every game I want to at least try (even if I don't finish them) and get them out of my backlog. I may not end up skipping every single release this year, as there's a couple very specific games I'd like, but for the most part I will be focusing on games I've owned on or prior to December 31st, 2014. This will probably be stuff I've been waiting to get on sale, or sequels of things that I'm clearing off my backlog. Due to the sheer size of my backlog, the goal is not to finish everything, nor even to try everything -- the goal is to experience these instead of just buying the next big shiny thing. I've included a list of about 100 games to begin.

TL;DR VERSION:
1. Play primarily games released prior to December 31st 2014
2. Replays of old faves I've always wanted to go back to are included
3. The goal is not to finish everything, nor even to try everything
4. New games may be purchased/played

Comments

I honestly think that is a great idea for a challenge. Sometimes you don't realize how much you have until you honestly look at the pile and go "Oh... oh that is bad." (I'm doing a similar challenge with my books because I have too many and need to trim the pile). But honestly, I'll be rooting for ya on the side lines, I think it'd be a fantastic accomplishment if you can achieve it or even make a good dent. :)

I'd been thinking "that's a long list, I don't have a back log at all, I'm still waiting for the next Matsuno game to come out" until I looked a little closer at your list. Just last week someone reminded me that I didn't finish Jeanne d'Arc, I turned it off when... well, maybe it's better to avoid the spoiler. I worry that I need the momentum of the first 95% of the game to push me through the final dungeon. It hurts to have a solid game unfinished in the last tiny bit because of one silly plot point, though.

You're doing War of the Lions on IOS? I think the best part of that game is multiplayer. If you change your mind and do single player, Sare and I both have PSPs - you can use your PS3 to connect two PSPs across country - and I have never said no to Chocobo Defense. In a way, the game's only post game content is some insane multiplayer cooperative missions. That said, I don't know if the U.S. ever got an Android release, but I'd be willing to dust off Sare's Nook Tablet if it's not too pricey. I've only heard the PSP users talk about multiplayer, though, so I'm not entirely sure that IOS has it.

I still need to find time to finish the Coda 3 and 4 missions in Tactics Ogre, but I'm finding most of my free time goes into doing things with Sare or walking and listening to an audio book. I don't miss dialysis, but having 4-8 hours of time stuck sitting in a chair would probably have been a good time to finish those. Well, and not just finish - Lanselot's sword Ambi

You'll be happy to also know I'm probably adding OB64 to the list -- need to check if Chris owns it on his Wii or if that was me. Wii and the Box of Crap will have to wait until I'm back at home though.

If you decide to livestream Person of Lordly Caliber, you should consider going for the secret extra level that interrupts the end credits. As much as I like Ogre Battle 64, there's a point where you've done the good lawful route, the good chaotic route, and the bad chaotic route. At that point, there's not much else to see. Be sure to name a seraph after me!

I've been merrily chugging along on this during the last week, as after rolling credits in Fantasy Life and becoming a Legendary Hunter, I've now started to dive into some Steam games.

There's a new tab on the googledoc where I'm marking down everything I'm doing for those that want to follow along :)

For the record, THANK YOU for recommending Fantasy Life. I bought it, as a surprise, for my wife after RPGCast. So far, I have received nothing but praises for the gift. (Well, maybe a few lamentations that it pulls her away from her current MMO). Thanks, Paws!

So since work is all hurry up and wait through January, I've been playing Agarest Generations of War on PC during the day, and FFT on iPad or Fantasy Life in the evenings when I don't need to sit/wait/watch as much.

So for those unfamiliar with the game, Generations of War has numerous generations that grow up, have babies, and then you take on the role of the (human) kid being watched over by numerous (other races) guardians. The game has a morality system and your reaction/answers to events, choices, and questions lead you towards either Dark or Light, and towards or away one of three women. I'm up to the grandson (third generation); for Gen 2 I decided to skew physical and slightly Dark. For Gen 3 I decided to skew magical and am now about halfway into Light instead. I'm still iffy on the decisions I made in Gen 2 -- I think the bunny girl would have plopped out a superior kid -- but I liked the story with the girl I chose. I have this problem with FE, too.

In Fantasy Life, I've taken my first job to Legendary (woodcutter) and am working on making it to Hero in most classes (recently finished up Wizard, now Mastering Cooking). Don't take Cooking as your first Life. It's really an end-game job when you've done most everything else.

Yeah, have 'fun' with Agarest. My lifetime won't take another exposure to it. By this time you may be wondering if the characters who joined early ever, I dunno, change their clothes in the many years that pass between generations. The answer is 'no.' Your hour total might not be as high as mine if each fight loads promptly though. Also if it doesn't crash. A certain point in the fourth generation is when I had to get outside help, it just wouldn't stop crashing.

It's not what he's eating, but what's eating him that makes it ... sort of interesting.

What's your play style for FFT? I tend to use the starting funds to hire a male and female recruit, both with high brave. That way I have two generics to keep with me for the entire game with names I like.

I've always stuck with the generics the game gives me. I've never hired anyone.

Because I have no current-gen systems (PS4/XBone/Wii U) nor any intention of buying them, this kind of challenge would be really easy for me. 8-) The only system I really buy games for now is 3DS, aside for a few remakes/rereleases I might plump for (Symphonia and KH2.5). I also have no backlog; I don't buy games unless I actually have time and want to play them.

Just curious: Is going to Agarest this early in the challenge from the "Let's get this over with" line of thinking?

Because January and February are a lot of at-the-computer-then-waiting-for-replies work, I wanted a PC game to play, and it was the first one that jumped out at me, probably because of its infamy as really terrible. It was also a gift from a friend for Christmas :)

What's your play style for FFT? I tend to use the starting funds to hire a male and female recruit, both with high brave. That way I have two generics to keep with me for the entire game with names I like.

Depends on what the random hand deals me. I had two people with decent stats -- a woman high~ish in faith and a man high~ish in brave, so I chose not to recruit. I do however, do an excessive amount of random levelling; I'm on my way to rescue Tietra, but I'll stop progressing the story until I'm around level 20 or so, with some decent magic unlocked and a solid archer/thief and thief/archer.

Got up to Orbonne Monastery but got jammed on Wiegraf; my part's only around 26-28, so I'm going to bite the loss of progress and go back to a previous save and grind up some more levels. Too bad my best girl is compatible with Wiegraf...he currently one-shots her :(

Got up to Orbonne Monastery but got jammed on Wiegraf; my part's only around 26-28, so I'm going to bite the loss of progress and go back to a previous save and grind up some more levels. Too bad my best girl is compatible with Wiegraf...he currently one-shots her :(

May have gone a tad bit overboard with the grinding, as I'm now 39-42. My party right now is all no-namers (I tend to level up the named characters in later chapters), so here's their current class and second ability -- F.Samurai (Mastered Martial Arts), Ramza.Monk (Mastered Mettle), F.Black Mage (Mastered White Mage), M.Chemist (Mastered Aim), M.Dragoon (Mastered Fundaments).

Don't forget that you can easily bring their levels back down. It's easy to get carried away levelling classes and getting fun abilities, but Zeklaus Desert (I think that's what it's called) has a level down trap. For multiplayer, I kept having to level down to keep the same level as a friend for the cooperative campaign.

For anyone who doesn't know about the level down traps, every time you step on that panel you lose a level. You can keep walking onto it again and again in the same random battle to get people's levels down if you over level. The only "key" is not to have "Find Item" as your movement ability when you walk over that panel. PSP takes screenshots, doesn't it? Well, as best I can remember, that level has a gorge in the center of it with sand/rock tiles down below the main board. It's along the edge of the level in the canyon that you can find the level down trap. Just don't hit a level down trap while in the Onion Knight class. They have weird levelling.

Yeah, I'm familiar with Onion Knight (I'm playing on my iPad, which is the same version as the PSP with some additional tweaks to make it run properly); I have a couple people at level 2 ON now, with one quickly approaching 3.

Also, I don't know how I did this, but I totally forgot about missions until last night. I had a good feeling?

Ah yes, a complex system that removes units from your roster for days in return for a paltry amount of job points. Beyond using dancers to teach math to the nobility's children because you "had a good feeling" and this mission "is a gift from God", it always seemed like a waste of time. You never get any items or characters from doing them. If any system in FFTactics needed incentives, it's the mission system. It doesn't take anything away from the game, but it also doesn't add anything.

Onion Knight is a weird class, especially since most of the Onion gear comes from multiplayer. It's nice for men since it lets them equip the ribbon and "female-only" gear. Of course, Cloud could always cross dress, a nod to the start of Final Fantasy 7. A lot of the non-ribbon onion gear comes with status immunities, too. Still, a class with no abilities that doesn't gain experience and is extremely weak before level 8 is an odd choice.

Oh! My two tips: you can raise and poach minotaurs to get holy spears for your dragoons. And Lusso - I think that's his name? He's the protagonist of Tactics Advanced 2, now a playable character here. Anyway, he's like Ramza in that if he's hit by Ultima he learns it. He doesn't need to be in chapter 4 to learn it like Ramza does, either, so you can learn it early. (You can learn Ultima and Zodiac in multiplayer, though, so they're not as rare as they were in the original game).

I also remember it being the only way to get Cloud, so there's that. I've picked up Lusso and have dabbled with his poaching in zones that always have monsters.

Right now I'm up to Limberry Castle, but the fight with Elmdor in round 2 is currently not going so well, since both girls have the instant KO abilities. I seem to recall that I solved this when I was younger by making everyone Dragoons. The other choice is to train up Agrias and Cid, since they have ranged, high damage, guaranteed to hit abilities.

I also did end up buying a new game (boo) and immediately finished it. HuniPop is a match-3 dating game (with pornographic sex at the end, fair warning). The match-3 part is great. The porn part is laughably terrible.

The assassin girls always go for the weakest character. The lady you're defending is extremely weak, but you can always make a character naked and afflict them with oil. A greased up naked person is a good way to lure away all of the female assassins.

So as I mentioned on the podcast, I've been playing a lot of games that don't have particular endings -- mostly on my iPad, where I've put FFT on hold for a little bit, as well as 3DS. Marrying people off in Tomodachi Life and grinding more pearls in Squids. That aside, I also finally jumped into a game I forgot I had (Crimson Shroud) and after getting stuck at the end of Chapter 2 (stupid rare drop) I'm finally proceeding forward (stupid Lich fight)!

I'll also be bending the rules this week, as Majora's Mask comes out Friday and I'll be picking up the CE.

Ah yes, a complex system that removes units from your roster for days in return for a paltry amount of job points. Beyond using dancers to teach math to the nobility's children because you "had a good feeling" and this mission "is a gift from God", it always seemed like a waste of time. You never get any items or characters from doing them. If any system in FFTactics needed incentives, it's the mission system. It doesn't take anything away from the game, but it also doesn't add anything.

The Engrish is its own reward. "This is the way!"

I was almost sad when the missions had proper English in the PSP version. Almost.

I was almost sad when the missions had proper English in the PSP version. Almost.

I love the new translation, but I almost get more enjoyment by trying to remember what the line used to be. "Tis thy faith and birth that wrong thee, not I" coming from "BLAME YOURSELF OR GOD" makes me laugh every time. I only wish they'd let Joseph Reeder/Alexander Smith take a stab at the random quotes units used to yell when they'd use abilities. "Heaven's wish to destroy all minds, Holy Explosion!" could use an update. I seem to recall the Tactics Ogre update updated the random quotes there, but I think FF Tactics needed it more. Playing these two remakes and seeing real words has made me realize how simple the language is in many of the other video games I play. Suddenly, every other game seems to be talking to me like I'm a 4th grader.

So I finally decided to go back to Atelier Rorona, which I started and stopped last year -- I didn't remember at all what I was doing, so I started over. With my vague knowledge of the first playthrough and a barebones walkthrough, I've now surpassed where I was before; I'm now in year 2 month 2. My reputation is right around 35% and I have friendships over 10 with everyone except Cole (whose requests just opened up).
My typical party is Rorona (25), Sterk (24) and Liona (20), switching Iksel (18) in when I open new areas for ingredient scenes. Cordy's around 22.

With Rorona PLUS under my belt, it's time for a new living room game. I finished with the flags for Sterk, Cory, Gio, and Isky) and the True Ending, which makes it my most successful Atelier game to date.
Thinking of switching it up to something totally different. I'd really like to play Dangaronpa, but Chris doesn't want me to play it on the TV, so perhaps Hyrule Warriors.